'Marvel's Avengers Assemble'

When: 11 a.m. Sunday, July 7

Where: Disney XD

As an aspiring standup comedian, Roger Craig Smith had an identity problem: People liked large parts of his act, but not for the reason he expected them to.

"I kept hearing more and more about, 'Hey, can we rep you for voice-over?' more than, 'Hey, can we book you for your next comedy gig?'" says Smith, who grew up in Tustin and knew he was funny – he'd been voted Eighth Grade Class Clown at Hughes Middle School, after all.

But it was his characters and the voices he created to make them real that truly impressed people watching his standup act. And so eight or nine years ago, Smith took the plunge into voice acting. His latest gig as Captain America on "Marvel's Avengers Assemble" premieres on Disney XD on Sunday, so we rang up Smith to chat – presumably in his real voice – about how he found his calling.

Growing up in Orange County, Smith was a theater kid from early on. He acted with MYART in middle school, and in high school shows at Foothill High School.

"I just did a lot of goofy characters," he says. "I didn't want to be the leading man in any of these things. I wanted to be the sidekick because you had a lot more freedom to play around with the character."

After graduating from Chapman University in 2003 with a degree in screenwriting, Smith started working in comedy while trying to develop one of his college screenplays that had been a finalist in a writing competition. To get some honest feedback on his comedy act he called up his Foothill theater teacher, Jan Laurie, and asked her if she'd watch him do his routine.

"I went through and I delivered it and she went, 'OK,'" Smith says. "I was waiting to hear, 'Oh, it's funny, it's brilliant,' and she went, 'Do you want me to tell you the truth?' I said yeah and she said, "Where are your characters? You were always creating characters. Instead of just telling the stories why not become the characters in the stories?'"

That led to the comedy career which led to the voice work he's done ever since. In addition to Captain America on "Marvel's Avengers Assemble," Smith voices recurring animated characters including Thomas on "Regular Show" on Cartoon Network. He is the villain Ripslinger in Disney's upcoming "Planes" and has voiced Sonic the Hedgehog in video games as well as Disney's "Wreck-it Ralph."

Creating the characters he plays is often left up to Smith's own instincts.

"With Thomas and the 'Regular Show' it's pretty free-form," he says. "You throw something out and if it works they'll love it, and if it doesn't, (creator) J.G. (Quintel) says, 'Nah, let's do it a different way.'"

For Captain America, there was an evolution to creating the superhero's voice.

"I'm not limited by how I look, thank God," Smith says. "Captain America at 5-5 would not be that intimidating to that many bad guys.

"You throw out some ideas and they'll say, 'No, he's too stilted,' or, 'He's too square-jawed,'" Smith says. "Or pitch him up or pitch him down. So it's kind of collaborative. Captain America, we refer to it as 'fists on hips,' as if he's standing there heroically addressing the other folks. And it's just to give me that certain delivery and a little more integrity of what he does."

Episodes of "Marvel's Avengers Assemble" are made with the entire voice cast present, Smith says.

"It works really well to have us all in the same room at the same time and kind of doing it like a large radio play," he says. "There's an intangible energy that happens where everyone is playing off of everyone's energy levels. You get a much more organic feel to that as opposed to, 'You're going to come in one at a time and we're going to stack all your audio files together as if you're having a conversation.' There's nothing wrong with that but I think you miss out on a little something."

He still has a literary manager but working five, sometimes six, days a week Smith says he just hasn't had time to think about writing more screenplays. As for on-camera acting jobs, he's just not interested

"I've toyed with the idea of going back to standup and trying it out," he says. "But the nice thing about doing voiceover work is that unless you're in a really horrible recording session nobody's drunk and telling you you're bad at your job."

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.